Hacker justifies himself for cracking Obama's Twitter account
Ein Franzose, der sich Zugang zum Nutzerkonto von US-Präsident Barack Obama auf dem Kurznachrichtendienst Twitter verschafft hat, steht seit Donnerstag vor Gericht. Der 23-jährige sagte zum Auftakt seines Prozesses in Clermont-Ferrand, er habe niemandem schaden wollen.
He had merely wanted to draw attention to weaknesses in the security of social networks. According to SDA, the accused, who called himself "Hacker Croll" on the Internet, was arrested by French investigators together with officers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the end of March. He faces up to two years in prison for hacking into computer systems. Among other things, he was able to gain access to the Twitter account of US singer Britney Spears and is also said to have penetrated the Facebook Internet platform and e-mail services such as Google's G-Mail.
Carelessness of many computer users exploited
According to the public prosecutor's office, the hacker exploited the carelessness of many computer users who create passwords from the names of relatives or pets, for example. The Frenchman specifically searched for such data and used it to try out various password combinations. He cracked Twitter by finding out passwords for the administrators' accounts, he said in court. It was not his intention to cause destruction or harm anyone, the computer crack assured the court.
He could have done it, but that would not have been in line with his ethics. He just wanted to show that "the weak link in computer security is not the machine, but the human being". He also wanted to make Internet users aware of the importance of choosing a secure password.
Carelessness of many computer users exploited
According to the public prosecutor's office, the hacker exploited the carelessness of many computer users who create passwords from the names of relatives or pets, for example. The Frenchman specifically searched for such data and used it to try out various password combinations. He cracked Twitter by finding out passwords for the administrators' accounts, he said in court. It was not his intention to cause destruction or harm anyone, the computer crack assured the court.
He could have done it, but that would not have been in line with his ethics. He just wanted to show that "the weak link in computer security is not the machine, but the human being". He also wanted to make Internet users aware of the importance of choosing a secure password.
